Historical Fiction - Tudor Tangle

Over Christmas and into the New Year, I've been indulging my love of historical fiction with some recent publications.  I left Mantel's Bring Up The Bodies until last week, when a friend (not a fan of the historical novel) phoned me to say she'd loved it, but that it had polarised opinions at her book club.  Having had it on my bedside table for a couple of months, curiosity finally made me launch into it properly.  I must confess to a curious antipathy for Mantel's work: Wolf Hall should have left me an acolyte, but I felt let down.  It wasn't a badly written book (although her use of pronouns, and the confusion this causes, really irritates me), but it wasn't as brilliant as the reviewers made it out to be, either.  There are so many good historical novelists out there: why is Mantel a literary Booker-prize-winning prodigy, when others, perhaps as worthy of note, are consigned to less mainstream literary genres?  The announcement of the launch of  Bring Up The Bodies therefore left me cold: feeling no inclination to buy a copy, I only have one thanks to the kindness of a colleague who sent me hers.  This is a book I felt obliged to read, a rare feeling for me, especially when it's a historical book.  Bibliotherapy as medicine, then - hard to swallow, but needing to be addressed.  And maybe I would find this one a revelation.  Having read several other historical-related novels in the past few weeks, I was keen to see if, by comparison, Mantel would shine out.  Did she? 


Karen Harper is an American author, now picked up by British publisher Ebury (part of Random House).  I first came across her by reading, in an American paperback, The First Princess of Wales, which is about Joan of Kent.  I really enjoyed this, and have been delighted to find her other books now more widely available over here.  The Queen's Governess  was one of my Christmas reads.  It's about Kat Ashley, governess to Elizabeth Tudor, and gives another side to that great Queen's story.  It is well-written for a fast read, with few glitches in historical accuracy to mar the plot.  I also read The Queen's Confidante (about a candle maker who becomes involved in the life of Elizabeth, wife of Henry VII) and Shakespeare's Mistress (about the allegedly 'other wife' that Shakespeare had).  All readable, and although I found Shakespeare's Mistress less of a hit than the other two, none would be a let-down if you wanted a fix of historical fiction.  However, in a Harper v Mantel comparison, Mantel would win on approach and character choice: Cromwell makes for a much grittier, more dense reading, and his opaqueness, well-captured by Mantel, compells attention.  Harper's descriptions of place may have the edge - but Mantel has more muscle as a writer. 

Next up, Fiona Mountain. She's another recent find  - Cavalier Queen chose another character from history whose story has rarely been a focus for attention, Harry Jermyn,  and looks at his career at the court of Charles I.  Mountain's enthusiastic research makes this a really good read.  It's not quite as polished a piece as it could be, and there are hiccups in authenticity, but it's recommended.  Rebel Heiress, which is based on the life of Eleanor Glanville, who had a great interest in butterflies in the late seventeenth century, is also worth a look.  This has a lighter touch, and shows that Mountain has skill as a storyteller.  Definitely one to watch in the future, although quality-wise, Mantel wins again. 

Philippa Gregory is more well-known as a historical novelist, and her books on the Tudor court have reached a wide audience thanks to the film of The Other Boleyn Girl. I had The Kingmaker's Daughter, Gregory's 2012 Simon and Schuster bestseller, and it didn't disappoint.  About Anne Neville, daughter of Warwick the Kingmaker, and future wife of Richard III, this is a well-researched novel with bite.  Gregory has a PhD and is an established historian - and it shows in her work.  As a contrast with Mantel, she could surely be a contender....yet something (and I will be doing more research here to try and find out what, exactly) has meant her work is categorised as more "popular fiction" where Mantel's is "literary fiction". The gulf between those two genres seems huge.  Why?

So, back to Mantel.  Bring Up the Bodies was the best of the bunch, but it wasn't a book I became attached to, or would want to read again.  There is something missing in Mantel's prose, as if she is viewing every one of her characters via the same lens, rather than trying different ones to see if they have more complex corners.  Cromwell is well-drawn, and the tight focus works, all the while you focus on him, too.  But the other characters are more two-dimensional, unconvincing, and when you try and slide round Cromwell there is little there - it's like a film set.  So, it's a flawed performance, for me.  Maybe the familiarity of the historical facts help make this succeed, as readers can fill in the gaps themselves.  If you have read lives of More, of Wolsley, of Fisher and of Henry himself, there is a much more complex set of varying impetuses at play in this period than Mantel chooses to try and portray in her works (especially the religious and spiritual controversies and tensions, which she hardly explores at all).  Like the self-serving actions of Jane Boleyn, Mantel, through her Cromwell, makes this a very myopic view of the Tudor court.  In this, it succeeds.  But it doesn't satisfy.  It was, for me, a better read than Wolf Hall, and I shall be looking forward to trying the third book in the trilogy when it comes out. But is it great historical fiction? I think not.  In later posts I will be arguing for other authors who do deserve more kudos:  Dorothy Dunnett and Sharon Penman top of that list.

However, as an endnote to this piece, a surprise Christmas reading hit: Barbara Cartland's Elizabethan Lover.  Yes, it's Barbara Cartland!  I know -- if you were brought up, like me, to view BC as a frothy joke whose heroines were all heart shaped faces and violet eyes, then this endorsement will be a shocking confession.   I picked it up, honestly, thinking it would be a good laugh - but several decades since I last read a BC novel have meant a new reading perspective.  I was pleasantly surprised.  In the light of the historical novels that have flooded the marketplace since she was writing, she comes out very well -- and in this particular novel, which is less fluff than some of the Regency romances, respectably competing with novelists who command much more kudos than she does. A reminder not to judge a book by its cover, but also not to accept without question its marketed genre category.  It may be time for a reassessment of Cartland, too..More on this in weeks to come!

Reviews of Bring Up the Bodies: Telegraph Review, Independent Review, New York Times Review, New Yorker Review,